The Vampire In Me
by Renegade Ace
Summary: Willow wakes to find herself in an unusal place... a grave. And she is left with two questions, how did she get there? And, who's her daddy? (R for later chapters) set in season 3.
1. Meet Mini Giles

I do not own any of these characters, they belong to Joss, and thusly I am not making any money off of writing this. Because I suck and am not lucky or gifted enough to work with these great creations.  
  
This is season 3, after Lover's Walk (basically), couples basically what they were at the time of the episode, but there is no Faith. If there is suppose to be faith around this time in the season, just pretend she flew away to be with the butterflies. Enjoy.  
  
R&R  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Her head hurt. She awoke with a moan in a small space that she didn't recognise, the air dank and mouldy. She shifted in the cramped space, something felt wrong, but she couldn't tell what, not in the dark. Feeling around, hands groping at the shimmering white of the material that surrounded her, glowing in the now recognizable dark, realization hit, her groping turning frantic. "Oh God, oh god, oh god... I'm in a coffin, they buried me alive."  
  
She tried to think back as she tore away at the lining recalling the last thing that happened to her. As she punched through the wooden barrier of the casket, ignoring the pain in her then bleeding fist, the scent of blood, almost rotten, making her stomach turn, it came back to her, faded memories that seemed too long ago to be remembered.  
  
There was a fight with Oz, watching him leave, and then there was a hand, grabbing her throat, a voice too low to remember, and then nothing. It took the second stab at the packed in soil above the broken hole for it to fall in around her, making her realize for the first time, what she was wearing. Her mother, well it must have been her mother, no one else would have had the lack of fashion sense, something Cordy must have commented on, she was sure, to put her in a white granny shirt with built in tie and a knee length grey skirt that seemed to be made of... tweed?  
  
'Oh, God, I'm a mini Giles,' she thought as she fought her way through the earth to the surface. She never would have guessed it would have been that hard, or that she would feel up to fighting so hard for her life. She had to give Vampires more credit. 'Vampires? I hope they don't find me, I don't suppose I taste that good...' she broke off when a thought occurred to her. Stopping in her struggles, a hole to the night sky shining through, she reached to her neck, pleased to find that it lacked any holes. 'Thank god,' she almost sighed, digging a little more, hating the feel of the dirt under her nails and swallowing the pain of the soil mixing within her bleeding fists, 'I would hate to have thought Buffy would be waiting for me. But... if there are no bites, then why am I still alive?'  
  
She inhaled deeply as she pulled herself out of the grave to her waist, the night holding a slight breeze. She took a moment to settle herself when a strong hand gripped the back of her shirt, pulling her the rest of the way free of the shallow grave. "'ello Pet, feeling better?"  
  
She spun around, "Spike," she growled, what should have been fear turning to spite then anger, and what she first thought as odd within her, roared as she attacked him.  
  
He laughed as he easily flipped her, smiling as, with her pinned under him, amazed at the spirit that he knew was in her, he ran his finger over her forehead. "Like the new look Luv, it says beautiful but deadly." His smile grew as he took her hand in his, avoiding her right, seeing the blood on the skin torn knuckles, recalling long ago when it looked like his, and ran her own fingers over her forehead, watching with interest as her eyes, an amber hue filled with innocent danger, widened at the feel of the ridges, smooth and deep, natural although strange to her touch.  
  
She gasped as she, with quivering movements, touched her teeth, almost screaming in shock and fear at the feel of the fangs where her canines once were. Her eyes met his, swallowing hard, not knowing who else to look at, her world, flipped suddenly on end. "What have you done?"  
  
~*~TBC~*~  
  
Tell me what you think... am I evil or what? 


	2. 3 Days Earlier

Disclaimer: me no own, me get no money. Happy Mr. Joss? Probably.  
  
No Faith, no Wesley, Willow's gone, here's how she dies...  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
3 Nights Earlier  
  
The tears wouldn't stop. He had left her, not that it should have surprised her much. They had been awkward and uncomfortable around each other since he had found her and Xander together. It had only taken a week before the tension grew until they fought, hateful words thrown instead of fists, and each hurting more than physical beating ever could. It ended with words that neither could recall exactly, only that each one had lead to the pit now between them, one that she knew, even as he drove away, could never be filled.  
  
And in that moment, she no longer cared. That was why she had sunk to her knees and let her pain and her guilt flow over her, overriding her better senses, knowing that she shouldn't be alone in the alley behind the Bronze. He had left her there, it was his fault, anything that happened to her... well that would be on his head too.  
  
Then why was she surprised by the hand that wrapped tightly around her neck, pulling her to her feet and against a hard cooling body? She tried to call out when his grip on her tightened and he growled in her ear. She had her eyes clamped shut, awaiting his bite that she felt near when heard a laugh from behind them.  
  
The Vampire who held her turned her with him, coming face to face with a bleached blond complete with duster and game face. The Vampire growled, holding Willow tighter. "What do you want? She is mine."  
  
Spike cocked his head slightly, looking Willow over closely, his lips curling in a suggestive grin. "And a pretty morsel she is Mate, but she ain't yours."  
  
Growling again, the vampire threw Willow aside, not caring that her head slammed against the wall. As her world spun around her she clung to the wall in a semi-sitting fetal position, the only sound she heard was of the battle behind her, she tried to see what was happening, her world coming into focus only when Spike squatted before her, duster flowing behind him, his human features filled with cocky assurance as he took in the dazed girl, oblivious to the blood on his chin from the lucky blow his adversary had gotten in. "My my little one, what a nasty bruise you are going to get." He paused to touch the wound, placing his blood-covered fingers in his mouth with a laugh when she winced.  
  
Trying not to lose the contents of her stomach as the world revolved around her, reminding her in a not so subtle way why she hated roller coasters so much, she blinked, the hand in her hair covered with her own blood, she tried to think straight. "What are you doing here? Buffy—Buffy said that y-you..." she drifted off when she found it too difficult to speak, her mouth dry and her throat quivering. Everything ached, and Spike, and the memories, still too fresh, that accompanied him, made it worse.  
  
He laughed. "Slutty was right for a change. I was on my way back to Dru," he told her standing, and starting to pace slowly in front of her, loving the way she tried to watch him, her eyes not quiet able to follow him, her eyes clouded, skin pale and sweating slightly, breathing growing shallow. She looked every inch the helpless victim, but he knew what was underneath, the fire she hid, the one that was just under the innocence that she reeked of, "But then I thought, 'Why?' She never loved me, not really." He again squatted before her with a determined growl, not caring that she shied away from his sudden movement. "Why would I go back to someone who left me, when I can make my own, someone who hasn't loved my Grandsire first." He touched her hair as gently as he did when he had kidnapped her, this time avoiding her gash, clucking to her soothingly as to stop her from being more scared of him, studying her carefully, memorizing her as a human before he took her life, her innocence, from her, and made her so much more. "Did you ever love him? Angel?"  
  
Fear and pain and a sudden wave of sickness stopping her from shaking her head, forcing her, instead, to again try to speak, closing her eyes, focusing on her breathing although the soft sound coming from the back of his throat seemed to still wash over her. "No." She croaked out, not looking at him.  
  
He smiled. "I knew it. You are too alive for him. I was once alive like that, until he took it away from me, he took everything," his grip on her hair tightened as his game face again fell into place. Growling he pulled her head back, no longer soothing or gentle, not caring that she hurt and that he was making it worse, wanting more than anything, in that moment, to take both of their pains away. "Now it's time to take something from him..."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
He had watched her carefully as she died, taking in every strained breath, every painful heartbeat, before it all ended, smiling at the fight still in her, and the need when she fed from his wrist. She was going to be special. He had never made a vampire, not one to keep anyway, Drusilla never let him, she was too jealous to share him even though she had expected him to allow her free range when it came to Angelus. In making Willow, it was a sign, to Dru, to Angel, to the whole damned world that he was moving on, that he was taking over, that finally, he was free.  
  
His stomach leapt before it rolled. He knew that feeling all too well, and he hated what it meant, who it brought. He couldn't understand how, even souled, Angel could stand being around someone who made his kind so physically ill. Growling, he held her close, not ready to give her up, but knowing, with his own sense of survival, that it was the only way. He placed a tender kiss on her forehead, taking in her sweet scent, no longer innocent, one final time, before setting her against the wall, sprinkling the ashes of her fallen opponent over her, placing a broken piece of wood in her hand, and by that covering up his scent and making sure that she looked like she had lost a fight. Casting one last look at the redhead, pleased that he had bitten her on the arm instead of the neck, assuring that she would indeed rise again, he left, hearing the source of his discomfort approaching.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
A slumped body caught her gaze, making her curse. How stupid could people be? Hanging around the back alley behind the Bronze, alone? Even if there weren't vampires around it would still be incredibly stupid. She sighed, wondering, not for the first time, why she should bother protecting people who lacked the common sense to protect themselves. Shaking her head she went to move towards the body when she caught a glimpse of red and a stake grasped within a limp hand. And she knew. Even as her eyes started to well and her heart skipped a beat, she knew who it was.  
"Oh God," she whispered, not being able to move, her heart breaking with every breath, "Willow." She closed her eyes, a sob escaping her, and turned away, gasping at the figure behind her. "Angel!" Her face showed her torment as her heart broke, and she, with no strength left to keep her up, fell into his arms crying.  
He held her, guiding her to the ground, damp and cool even in the California night. "What is it?" He asked, in confused comforting confusion, not quite understanding the Slayer's dismay when the scent he knew, and once enjoyed, overcame him. It was rotten and stale, the stench of fear drenched death, and yet it was sweet and innocent, a mix of fragrances that he had come to know so well and loved so entirely. "Willow?" Swallowing, his throat dry, he couldn't, wished he wouldn't, believe that the body just within his sight was that of his friend's, and that her soul was died, that she was actually gone. He had seen her only the day before, laughing with Buffy, teasing Giles, smiling at him... "What happened?" He asked, swallowing back tears that begged to flow, pulling Buffy away from him enough to look at her, to find the answers that he desperately needed to find.  
She couldn't look at him, holding him tightly to stop herself from falling, from breaking completely, she tried to focus herself, to trick herself like she had done every time someone she knew died, when she was forced to deal with it: it was only a body now, it wasn't really them. But somehow she just couldn't believe that it wasn't Willow there, lying defeated and empty, and that she wasn't really gone, what was she going to do without her? "Oh God, Xander! What am I going to tell him? And Oz..." she drifted off, her breath shallow and harsh, trying to gain focus, when she thought of something. "Wait, W-Willow was suppose to meet Oz here after his gig, to talk and make things right with him... if he..." anger now filling her, she tried to get up only to be pulled back down, her burning eyes meeting Angel's mournful ones. "If he didn't meet her... if he let her die... I'll kill him myself."  
He looked down, not able to think about anything beyond the redhead's body. "Buffy, if it was a vamp attack, we have to check."  
She glanced at the body before shaking her head. "I can't." She looked to him, a silent begging in her eyes.  
Kissing her forehead lightly he inhaled, needing its comfort then more than any other breath that he had ever taken in life, before moving to the body once his friend. He could smell her attacker on her, and the bruises that had formed on her neck from where he had grabbed her. Angel's brow creased when he looked at her neck, ignoring the fear that was still surrounding her, seeing no bite marks on the soft skin, taking note of the blood on her forehead. He stood there a moment longer, studying the scene before going back to where Buffy was now standing, facing away from the body hugging herself tightly.  
She looked to him expectantly when he put his arm around her. "Well?"  
He shrugged. "I don't see any bite marks. It looks like she hit her head pretty hard and she was covered by ash. I'd say that she died in the fight."  
Buffy nodded, looking down. "So she got him?"  
Angel, hearing the pain in her voice pulled her to him, trying to comfort her as much as possible, while aching himself. "Yeah, she got him. She's at peace." He closed his eyes, mourning one of the most innocent people he had ever known, even purer than Dru had been, glad that she was able to rest... he would hate to see how someone could exploit that innocence that made her Willow... making her, in its wake, truly terrible.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
They were quiet when they went back to the library, holding each other close, not looking up at the people who were waiting for them in awkward silence.  
  
Xander swallowed hard, exchanging worried looks with Giles and Oz before giving a nervous laugh. "Hey guys, who died?" When Buffy started crying, moving into Angel's comforting embrace Xander went pale. "Oh God, who died?" He looked around as all movement stopped, and suddenly something occurred to him, striking him in the gut so hard that he had to stand, backing away, not knowing where to look, only that he found it hard to breath, hard to think, hard to feel anything beyond the pale making him wanting to be sick. "W-where's Willow? Is-is she okay?" He focused on Angel when the vampire took a step forward. He pointed at him angrily. "No! You're looking at us like she's dead, and she can't be dead. I talked to her today, she plans everything and she didn't plan on dying today!" His hand shook as he pointed between the vampire and the others in the room, his throat closing off, and tears starting to run down his cheeks without regard to anything but the pain.  
  
Buffy swallowed hard, looking at him, crying even harder at the pain she knew he felt. "Xander! She's gone. I saw her."  
  
Giles stood up, nervously cleaning his glasses. "Vampire?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"W-will she..." he couldn't finish, not when it was about Willow, the heart of them all.  
  
Buffy shook her head. "No, Angel couldn't find any marks on her neck. I couldn't bring myself to look."  
  
"Quite understandable, she was special to you... to us all."  
  
"Where?" Oz asked, finally looking up, his face blank and pale, shaking slightly through his restraint. "Where did you find her?"  
  
"Alley, behind the Bronze." Angel told the youth.  
  
Anger hit Oz, filled his entire being, crashed into him like a wave against the shore, unrelenting, and as a result, he hit the table before standing up, aching too much to take it sitting down. He looked at Buffy, pain in his eyes. "Its my fault." His throat caught, and he started to pace, his hands in his hair, his anger and the part of the wolf that never left wanting to tear himself apart. "I... we fought." He laughed, not looking at them, as they stared at him, watching as he confessed his guilty, broken heart. "I don't even remember what was said, it hurt, both of us, so much. We were cruel. I got mad and I didn't think." He stopped to punch the wall with his fists, leaning his head against it, letting it support him as his strength left. "Why didn't I think? I just left. I left her there to die," he fell to his knees and he finally allowed himself to cry. Buffy was by his side in an instant, rocking softly, trying to comfort them both. "She didn't know that—I loved her—even after... I loved her."  
  
~*~TBC~*~  
  
tehehehehehehheheeheheheheehehhehehehehehehehehehe (sorry... it was needed, this is fun). 


	3. 2 Days Before she rises

Next Night, 2 Days Before She Rises

He sat back, watching the girls dancing, vibrating to the music that seemed like screeches of torment to his ears, him enjoying the night, his thoughts never falling far from his Red. Only two more nights before she was with him, two more nights that he had to stay hidden from the slayer and her pets. He had checked on them before dawn, they were mourning the hacker-witch, and that would probably keep them too busy to look for him. He scanned the room, a small smile on his face when he saw something, a shirt, one tight and black with red specks and perfect for his Red. With that in mind he moved through the crowd to where the girl was, moving suggestively against anyone who came up to her. She smiled at Spike before grinding against him, her back to him.

He ran his hands over her sides and breasts, and could almost laugh, it was almost too easy to be fun, but then, that was shopping for you, and for his Red, only the best would do. He didn't know when he chose Willow to become his own. After sobering up and the long drive he had given a lot of thought to Dru and his entire history with her. And slowly, along the way, his thoughts had shifted from his dark princess to the fiery sprite who had intrigued him to say the least. The more he thought about her, her fire, her innocence, her potential, the more he wanted her, not only for her, but also, as revenge, to the Slayer and to Angel, who had stolen so much from him. It was perfect, like killing two birds with one stone, or one long jagged knife that would cause the birds to scream like men on their knees, begging for a life already lost, already gone.

He leaned into the woman, whispering into her ear, wanting to leave with her, sneering with joy when she shivered from the warm breath that washed against her skin. He snickered when she grabbed his duster, pulling him out of the Bronze, to a car parked nearby. With a raised eyebrow at the classic car, he pushed her against it with a kiss that left her gasping for breath before his hands reached and untied the shirt.

She laughed when he started to take it off of her, moving to open the door. "Anxious much?"

He growled, snapping her neck, sighing when the shirt snagged on her oversized earring. With another growl he yanked the loop from her earlobe. "Bloody maniquins."

The three youths sat in the library, looking at the table, the clock on the wall the only source of noise.

After a long moment, Xander sighed. "So, how long do you think they'll be gone?"

Buffy shrugged, her face blank. Giles and Angel had said that they would patrol for her, at least until the funeral, planned for the next afternoon. "I dunno, not too long, for a quick sweep." She shifted uncomfortably when she thought of something, meeting Xander's eye. "Does Cordy know?"

Xander swallowed hard before nodding, his gaze focused on the white lines of his clenched fist. "Yeah, I told her today. She didn't want to see me when I was there, going on about how I was looking like shit without her in my life. She wouldn't look at me. When I told her, she cried, very un-Cordy. She called in a nurse, and bitched at them that she was leaving in time for the funeral." He let out a small laugh. "They're letting her out three days early."

Buffy nodded with a numb smile. "That's good, that she knows, Willow would have liked that." Her eyes started to well. "Did you know that she liked Cordy, Willow did, she liked everybody." Her forehead crinkled slightly as a tear fell. "Even Spike, for some reason." She jumped up when the library doors opened and Giles and Angel walked in, both dirt covered and branishing weapons. Her heart skipped a beat as she ran to them, releaved that they were alright. "What happened?"

Giles cleared his throat and looked away. "I fell in a grave."

Buffy gave him a sympathetic smile, wiping some of the dirt off his shoulder. "Well, I'm sure that the grave won't hurt anybody else." Shrugging she looked to Angel, snuggling close to him when he put his arm around her. "Any demons?"

Angel shook his head. "Only a fledgling." He cocked an eyebrow. "I've never seen a midget vampire before. I think even Xander could have taken him on."

Xander tried to smile, following the attempts of everyone else in trying to lighten the mood that still clung to them. "I'd have whooped his ass. You know who I want to see a vampire? Harmony. I bet a bat would whoop her."

Oz rolled his eyes. "Dirt would be enough." He clenched his jaw. "No word on who did this to Willow?"

Angel shook his head. "No, whoever it was, was working alone. Probably thought she'd be an easy meal." He swallowed when the youths all looked at him with empty angry gazes. "Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. Tact kind of gets lost after a hundred or so years."

Buffy gave him an understanding squeeze. "We understand. We know that you liked Willow too."

Giles looked down, taking off his glasses, swallowing an unsteady gulp, trying to calm himself at the uncomfort that again clung in the air. "She was the best of us all." He said before studying them. "Well, we better be getting home, its late and tomorrow is a busy day."

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, mom probably wigging, she's extra protective now that… well Willow hit her pretty hard." She wiped tears away before looking to Angel. "Walk me home?"

He nodded. "Sure." He looked to Giles, "I'll see you tomorrow night." As they moved to the door he inhaled deeply. "I wish I could be with you tomorrow at the funeral."

"I know, but I don't need a shis-ka-angel." She hugged him tightly, glad that he was with her. "I like you alive, well sort of, and not flaming. I'll come and see you afterwards."

He kissed the top of her head. "It will be okay."

She smiled sadly, "I hope you're right."

Back in the library, Xander looked at Oz. "Hey, how are you holding up?"

The musician shrugged. "Okay I guess. Tomorrow will be tough."

Xander looked confused. "Why?" He suddenly realized. "I mean, right, funeral, boyfriend. Of course. Bad Xander."

Giles shot the youth a look. "Xander, tomorrow is the night before the full moon, Oz will be locked up. Someone will need to stay with him."

Oz looked away. "Maybe I should find a cage someplace off campus, I mean I don't…"

Xander cut him off. "We're your friends." Oz shot him a look and guilt suddenly washed over Xander. "And, okay, maybe Will and I did some stupid things but now isn't the time to let that split us apart even more. She wouldn't want that. She wouldn't." He sat down tears again forming. "I thought for sure she'd be the one who'd make it. Out of all of us, she'd conquor the Hellmouth. She's changed to survive it, but it hasn't changed her…"

TBC


	4. 1 Day Till DDay

1 Night before She Rises

Buffy avoided it, the grave, she couldn't bring herself to see it, to look at the ingraved name that make it all too real that her best friend was there. She could see it in the distance, facing away from her, under the shadows of a willow tree, it was almost too eerie for Buffy to deal with.

"I can't look at it either," Xander said coming up behind her. "So, out of the four of us in the beginning, that first day, you me, Will and Jesse, we're all that's left." He let out a small laugh. "Who would have thought it'd be me with the Slayer?"

She gave him a sad smile. "I'm glad you did Xander. Willow was always my heart, but you're my conscious, and I miss her so much, but I need you." She squeezed his hand. "Just, promise me you won't leave me."

He crossed his heart with a shaking finger. "Scouts honour. How's patrol?"

"Slow. What about the others?"

He shrugged. "Cordy is home. Resting, Oz is locked in the library, Giles is looking after him with Angel."

She paused. "Wait, Angel is alone with Giles?"

He nodded. "Yeah, they seem to be getting along okay. Giles I think is accepting that Angel isn't the same as he was when Miss Calander died. He doesn't forgive Angel but I think he may be forgetting, enough to not let it get in the way at least."

She nodded. "What about you?"

"You love him, I know that, and I always hated him." He tried to laugh, only to fall silent. "Doesn't this seem wrong?"

"What?"

"Talking about life again? Moving on. I mean Willow's only been gone two days…"

"She wouldn't want us to dwell. Besides, I have a feeling that she won't really leave us."

Spike watched as the Slayer left with the boy who had been with Willow when he kidnapped them. He growled, recalling how close they had been. He wanted to rip his throat out, but then, with a laugh, he thought better of it. He would wait, he would train and when the time came, he would watch as she did it for him.

He knelt beside the grave, the scent that was still her reached his sensitive nostrils, and he could feel his blood in her, moving, starting to turn her, to nurse her, to cure her of the humanity that she had been cursed with. Touching the cold stone lightly, he wondered if he felt what Dru had over a century before when it was she who was waiting for him.

Closing his eyes, he let the feel of her, so very close to him, wash over him, surround and fill him. She was so close to being his, he could feel her, stirring, shaking with the demon that was now finding itself at home within her, a part of himself now her, combining within the life lost, becoming something new, special, something that Sunnydale would never forget.

Opening his eyes he smiled again, he was almost ready for her, to teach her everything he knew, how to take pleasure from pain, how to cause harm, how to make them beg for death. All of this without tainting the innocence that would still be in her, that would still make her his, that would make her Willow.

Only one more day, then she, and Sunnydale, would be his.

TBC

If you want it… I'll give you more.


End file.
